Thursday, January 31, 2008

Which way do I go?

I recently bought a new phone. I love it!! It has the keypad with all the letters so I can actually text a message in a very short amount of time! I am so excited about that. The phone I had before was just a typical number pad with the three letters to each number. It would take me a very long time to figure out how many times to push each number to get the letter I wanted. It was exhausting. My messages, if any, were very brief. It was very frustrating to say the least. I wanted to send messages but finally just gave up. I would think of my children, nephews and especially my niece who could punch out a message in seconds. In fact my niece was one of the first people I sent a message to with my new phone, she was very proud of her cool aunt, who could now send a text with more than three words!

Technology is a wonderful thing. My phone even comes equipped with a GPS system. While Steve and I were talking about plans at the store of course the salesman was telling us about all the options that came with my phone and he mentioned the GPS system, of course it comes with an extra charge, but Steve said “why don’t you try it?” Well, I wasn’t going to let that pass by and I said okay.

You have to understand about me and my sense of direction, you see, I have none. Those who know me understand if we are going somewhere different that they have to spell directions out to me very specifically. I not only have difficulty with the major direction of north, south, east and west but more importantly I get confused with left and right. It is a good thing that I am married, because I often refer to my wedding rings for help in determining my left hand. I have also been told to hold up my thumb and forefinger to make the letter L with both hands. The hand that has the L going the right way is my left, good idea, but unfortunately they both look like L’s to me!! I also had trouble opening jars and turning light bulbs, (don’t laugh, I am not blonde!) I would be told turn them clockwise, well, that was a problem too because that depends on whether you are using your right or left hand to do these things. I learned a saying several years ago that has helped me tremendously.

Righty tighty

Lefty Loosey

Simple yet true and something I can remember!!!

Because I am directionally challenged, one of my biggest fears is to be lost. I think part of the reason is that I know that following directions is hard for me. I do better looking for landmarks than street signs! So when we opted for the GPS package on my phone I was very excited. I used it for the first time this past weekend. I actually figured out how to do it on my own!!!!

The first thing I realized is that you have to know where you want to go before you can enter the information in so the GPS can tell you how to get there. I had a light bulb moment on this after I got home. I was able to enter in the information of where to go because I knew the destination of where I wanted to go, but, what if you know you want to get somewhere but don’t know specifically where? I know it sounds a little like the AFLAC commercial but think about it. How can you get somewhere or try to reach a certain goal if you are not quite sure where you want to go or what you want?

I was pondering this and it was as if God was showing me that to have long term goals is great but you have to have specific short term goals to help you get where it is you want to go.

If you have a goal to lose weight and you stop there, discouragement soon builds up because you know what you want to do, you just don’t know how to get there. The same way about your relationship with Him, if you want to get closer and have a deeper relationship with Him you have to decide how and what you need to do to accomplish this. Are you going to dedicate time to spend with Him or to read His word, or join a bible study? What will you do to reach this goal?

Just as a GPS gives the final destination it also gives you the step by step directions on how to get there. You have a long term goal in your destination and short term goals in the step by step directions. The GPS even alerts you when you go off course, my says, “Recalculating”, then tells you to turn around or gives an alternate route that still leads to the desired destination. The Holy Spirit is our GPS; He wants to lead us to the ultimate destination of being molded into the image of Jesus. He is our Guide and also the One who helps redirect us when we go off course. Listen to His guidance and you will stay on course. And guess what? If you get off course, He will be the One to say “Recalculating” and will help you get back on the right road.

Friday, January 25, 2008

FABULOUS FRIDAY



Steve made it home safely!!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Today has been a good day for me. I had bible study this morning. How I love to spend time in His word with other believers. God gives insight to each one of us and I love to hear the thoughts of others as we discuss different topics. After study I had a hair appointment. I love to get my hair done. The lady that does my hair has become a wonderful acquaintance over the years. She has been the only one to do my hair since we moved to Clarksville. She is a strong believer and we have good discussions as she does my hair. I left her salon feeling good, you know when your hair looks good then you feel good too. After that I went to get my eyebrows done at Merle Norman. Laura, the sweet lady that works there, is also a believer and we too had a nice talk about the Lord. She gave me a lesson on how to make up my eyes and hopefully they will look as good tomorrow as they do today. I ran a couple of other errands and came home to await the arrival of my husband, who has been out of town for a few days. I can’t wait for him to come home!!!

As I played on the computer today I thought about what I would write about. I wanted to make the next entry on my blog, but my mind was a whirlwind of different thoughts. I could write about the snow that fell for a few hours this morning or I could talk about the feelings that I have for my children, I could write about my dreams, the beauty in creation or other various topics.

The more I thought about it, the more fretful I became. I wanted it to be just right. Soon, I realized that I was actually worrying about what I would write about. I then began to smile and laugh out loud because believe it or not the bible study that I am leading is titled; “Living Above Stress and Worry” how funny is that? Here I was stressing which was the very thing I was teaching about! Then, I remembered the thoughts that ran across my mind when I woke up this morning, “I am worried about the lesson today”, I once again realized how silly this sounded given the content of the study.

It is amazing how God reveals himself to you when you seek Him. I have been asking Him to show me areas of worry that I might not have even realized that I have. When you ask Him for things like that you better be ready for the answer. He has been showing me several ways that I do this and I have to admit some were complete surprises. Like today, I realized that I was worrying over something that is meant to be fun and instead I started to turn it into drudgery. He also continues to reassure me of my worth to Him. This is an area that I have always struggled in. I sometimes feel like an outsider looking in, never feeling quite good enough. I am assured by promises in His word that these feelings are not from Him and that He loves me unconditionally. I didn’t realize until this study that I worry about this. You see worry is something that you hold onto, pick at, chew on over and over again and sometimes it can even consume you. Worry is holding on and rehashing when there is no reason to. I have come to find that you cannot worry and trust at the same time. It is impossible to say that You trust Him about a situation and then continue to let this situation consume you. When we learn to surrender our problems and relinquish control over them and completely hand it to Him, we are filled with a Peace that is unexplainable. I know that this is a process. I know that I will hand over things to Him, only to take them back again. How wonderful it is to know that no matter how many times I do this, He will always be there to receive my cares and to reassure me that He is with me. What an amazing God we have. I am learning to trust in the small areas, like writing a blog, as well as the bigger areas of my life.

I would like to offer these words of advice:

Don’t Worry, Be Happy!!


Monday, January 21, 2008

The Beginning

The Beginning

How these two words fill me with hope. I have realized with each passing day that I am not getting any younger. In just a few months, I will be reaching the big milestone birthday of 50. It is hard to realize that my life is so far along. I have been through seasons in my life filled with valleys and mountaintops. I am so blessed to live as long as I have and be as happy as I am and as healthy as I am. It is amazing what fills your mind as the years creep by. I have a wonderful husband (Steve) of 28 ½ years, two beautiful, amazing children,(Angela and Ben), but then I have to stop and recount, because I no longer have two children, I have three as of June 24, 2006 which is the day my daughter became Mrs. Zachary Whitaker. I still have to stop and ponder that one. It is hard to believe that my daughter can be married when I remember so vividly the day I got married. It is hard to believe that my children are grown and gone with lives of their own. Forgive the digression, I can get fixated on my children rather easily. What gifts they are from my Heavenly Father!!

I am also blessed with my faithful friend and companion Pepper. He has been part of the family since 1994. He is getting on in years. I see his fur change from a black with dashes of white (hence the name Pepper) to one of grey with bits of black flowing through. He is not able to jump on the bed or furniture anymore which now breaks my heart where as earlier it made mad me when he wouldn’t move over to give me more foot room.

I see and realize with each passing day that indeed it is like His precious word says; our lives are like flourishing flowers. Today we are here in all our glory and tomorrow we are gone. As I realize that I have today and don’t know about tomorrow, I want to make the best of it. I want to be faithful to that which He has called me to do. I want to begin the things I know He has called me to do.

So here I am stepping out into the new realm of technology and posting my thoughts and feelings out for the world to read. My children are such inspirations to me when it comes to technology. I want to be a cool mom!! Ben (my son), is very tech savvy. He never ceases to amaze me with what he knows about computers, phones, etc. Angela and Zach are also amazing in this area. After all they have grown up in this era, I on the other hand remember computer programs using punch cards.

I have thought about entering into the world of blogging for awhile. I would use a number of excuses to keep from doing this. One of which is that I didn’t want to be a copy cat. Angela (my daughter) started her blog last year. I thought it would be something fun to do but I kept making excuses like “I don’t want to be a copy cat”. She and her husband Zach bought a new camera and then before you know it, Steve and I bought one just like it. She has done this and that and soon I was coping what she did. So I guess that you could call me a copy cat. I call it admiring someone and wanting to be like them. So my sweet Angela, here’s to you!!! No more excuses!!

I can feel overwhelmed easily when I begin something new. I think of all the possibilities and unknowns and I begin to get uneasy. I want to chicken out. I want to give up before I start. I kind of feel that way now, I think of having to title this blog, putting pictures on it and coming up with something to write about. Then I remember the advise that I gave Angela not to long ago. She had come to a situation that seemed overwhelming to her and I told her that she couldn’t do everything at one time. I told her to think about the situation as a big cookie. When eating a cookie you have to eat it one bite at a time. Savor each bite and then begin to think about the next bite. Before long you have eaten the whole cookie, one bite at a time. My favorite cookie is chocolate chip. So here I go with the first bite of my cookie…… It’s the beginning!!!!!